Things Said
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Two Shot that follows Not A Hero- When James learned Serena's secret he was scared and some of the things he's said he's come to regret. Can he win her back? Does she even want to take him back?
1. Regrets

_Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai_

Mitch was horror stricken.

"What do you mean you're quitting?" he asked Serena as he watched her pack up a box of her stuff from her _office_. In reality, the office didn't belong to her at all. James had offered to share his space with her. After their explosion the night before, Serena was sure he would want her gone regardless of whether or not she quit her job.

She didn't want to quit, but he had a point. The Nighlok knew who she was. They knew her name, they knew her family so it didn't matter if her friends and the people she cared for knew she was a Samurai or not; just being in their lives was dangerous enough. She couldn't do that. She couldn't do that to James, to the students, to anyone.

"Sorry, Mitch."

"Like, another school?" Mitch asked, "One you can help like you did ours?"

"Quitting, for good," Serena said. She reached for the pencil holder Mitch had bought her; on it was written _#1 Teacher_. He had bought it for her as a thank you for all she had done for him and the school. It wasn't much, especially when she wasn't actually a teacher, but she loved it.

Mitch snatched it away from her before she could pack it up, "You can't leave for good! You're too good."

"I appreciate that, Mitch, but…"

"Is your son okay?"

"He's fine."

"Your sister? Mike? Are you okay?"

"Everything's fine," Serena assured him just as the bell rang. She pointed to the door, "You don't want to be late for class."

"Will I see you at lunch?"

"No," Serena shook her head, "Mitch, I'm really sorry. I have to do this. Just keep up with your studies, don't let the bullies hold you back, and remember, practice makes perfect. Being a cheerleader requires a lot of discipline. Make me proud, alright, bud?"

"Yeah, whatever," Mitch lowered his head and tossed Serena her pencil holder, "I still mean that. Please change your mind."

Serena looked at the pencil holder with a sigh while Mitch walked off to class. She put it in her box and lifted all her things. She took a step towards the door and bumped into a desk. The entire box fell from her hands and everything scattered on the floor.

"It's genetic," she muttered as she knelt down to get her things. It was then she saw a hand helping her. She looked up at the owner, "James? I'm just heading…"

"About yesterday…"

"I get it," she said. "You were right. You don't have to pretend like you were wrong or anything. Everyone I meet eventually ends up in the hospital at least once. I don't want that to happen to you."

"Serena…"

Serena dumped the box again and got up, "You know what," she said as she picked up the pencil holder, "This is all I need. I'll just get out of your way."

"Serena!" James called after her as she ran for the door. He saw his class waiting for him in the gym but he couldn't let Serena leave. He knew where she lived, but she lived with six Power Rangers and he had broken her heart. He was going to try to avoid getting in their path.

"Laps!" he shouted to the class and followed Serena into the hallway, "Serena, wait…"

Serena turned around, "The homework club meets three times a week. Students tutor students you just need to keep an eye on the kids… or find someone who will keep an eye on them…"

"Serena…"

"I'm getting out, okay!" Serena shouted. She spun around, turning her back to James and wiped the tears, "You were right. I'm getting lost before I hurt someone else."

James grabbed her arm and forced her to face him, "Will you at least listen to me?"

"So you can yell at me about my bastard monster baby?" Serena shouted. James signalled for her to lower her voice. He tried to pull her into a hug to comfort her but naturally she pulled away, "Get off of me! I'm a menace…"

"Serena…"

"I forced my sister to take my place in _the_ most dangerous job on the planet. I dated the man who openly wanted to murder Jayden and wouldn't let the others stand in his way. I dated him after he kidnapped and beat up my sister and all my other friends. I dated him after he murdered some poor man on the streets for no reason! I pissed off his wife who attacked my sister as revenge and had no problem targeting the rest of my family, or even my son! I don't want to put you or anyone else in my position!"

"I'm already there," James told her, "I might as well get the benefits."

Serena scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Benefits?"

"That came out wrong."

Serena turned away from James, "I'm doing what you want, okay…"

James chased after her and grabbed her arm again, "I'm sorry about the things I said. It was a lot to take in."

"Don't be sorry, you were right…"

"Serena…"

"Let me go…"

"No. Listen to me," James pulled on her arm to get her attention, "I was scared and angry and a little hurt… but you probably feel that way every day. I don't remember seeing a sign-up sheet around town asking for volunteers."

"I told you. It's a family thing…"

"I didn't choose to fall in love with a Power Ranger," James said. Serena looked up at him in complete shock. He didn't seem to realise what he had said. He continued, "And you never choose to be one. You said you trained your entire life for this, right up until you got sick… that's… a lot of time doing something that's… well… not normal."

Serena lowered her head, "You don't have to…"

"I'm freaking out, Serena," James admitted as he took her hands gently, "I mean, for starters, your ex-boyfriend sounds pretty intimidating."

"My little sister took care of him," Serena said.

"I might never get used to this danger thing," James said. "I'll probably sleep with a dozen locks on my bedroom door and the night light turned on… but you did kick ass with those monsters. I will be as safe as possible, right?"

Serena shook her head, "I have to go…"

James saw the tears welling up in her eyes. Only now did he realise how badly he had hurt her. During the night, he had come up with a few reasons why Serena had gotten a job and tried to blend into society. With everything she had to do to prepare to take over her mother's responsibility, she didn't get much normalcy in her life. She had attended school out in the country, but instead of her focus being on homework, she would study Samurai history. Instead of going out to parties and sleepovers, she would stay home and train. Getting a job, having a boyfriend, supporting her son; these were all things normal people did. Things a hardworking person like Serena deserved to have.

"I'm really scared, Serena. I… I don't do well when I'm tortured or beaten up and I don't want to die. Your son scares the shit out of me too… but please, I'm really, really sorry for the way I reacted. Please don't quit."

Serena pulled away from James, "Follow through with your consequences," she whispered, "that way the student know you're not messing around."

"Serena."

She turned away from him and walked down the hall to the main entrance. James followed her but saw she had brought some of the Rangers with her. Among the group was Emily.

As soon as James was spotted by the younger sibling, he saw Emily motion for Antonio and Jayden to take Serena to the car. James knew he was in trouble, but he was going to take it.

"Emily…"

"I preferred Dekker over you," Emily growled. "At least he was upfront about the fact that he was a monster."

"Look, I'm…"

"You can take your apology and shove it up your ass!" Emily screamed.

"I just…"

"She trusted you! I trusted you!"

"This isn't just some little secret…"

"Fine. Be mad at her. Whatever," Emily rolled her eyes, "but don't call my nephew a Nighlok bastard! Don't call my sister a Nighlok…"

"Emily," Jayden called as he stood in the doorway, "You don't want your voice to change permanently. Let's go."

"I'm sorry, Emily," James lowered his head. Emily looked ready to attack him but Jayden quickly pulled her away.

"Use your words, not your fists," he reminded her as he led her out of the school, "We're done here. Not everyone who finds out is going to be accepting."

As Jayden dragged Emily out of the school, James looked down at his shoes. He then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Mitch holding up a bathroom pass.

"Before you say anything, I actually had to go," Mitch said. James just huffed.

"I have a class to get back to…"

"You broke up with her? Why?"

"It's complicated. It's adult stuff."

"Is it complicated because you make it complicated?" Mitch asked. "That's what Serena asked me when I told her about… she just told me that once."

"Serena did something, alright, Mitch. She did something and I reacted poorly."

"But you want her back?"

James looked at his hands, "Why not?"

Mitch rounded James and looked up, "Do you want her back?" he asked with a little more power. "Yes or no?"

"It's…"

"Yes or no?"

James nodded his head, "Yes."

"Then get her back."

"It's not that simple."

"It's not easy, but it's very simple."

"What?"

"The simplicity comes from the fact that you just need to get her back," Mitch shrugged, "but doing that will be a lot of work. If she's worth it, go after her. If she's not, don't torture her. I'll hurt you if you torture her."

"She's got a lot of little bodyguards," James muttered.

"Because she's a really good person," Mitch said, "She changed my life. She changed everyone's lives. I heard this school used to have a reputation for educating jailbirds. That's different now. Serena's the most awesome person I've ever met in my entire life. She deserves the best. So be a man and give it to her."

Mitch flashed the coach the bathroom pass again, "Now I have to pee. Make up your mind by lunch or don't go after her at all."


	2. Thinking About It

"I have a question," Mia looked over the bouquet of apology roses James had somehow gotten to the Shiba House in hopes Serena would listen to him. The pink Ranger saw Kevin looking for a vase to put the flowers in. Serena didn't accept them, but there was no sense in letting perfectly good and beautiful flowers go to waste.

"Shoot."

"If you wanted to apologize to me, would you send me flowers?"

"Yeah. I guess I would. I guess I could."

Mia set the flowers down and crossed her arms over her chest. With a loud, unhappy huff, she turned her back to Kevin, "That's not good enough."

Kevin chuckled as he realised what she was doing. He finally found a vase that would work and stuck the flowers in. Then he walked around Mia, looked at her with a smile, and held out the bouquet, "I'm sorry, Mia."

Mia pretended to look surprised and excited when the flowers were pretended to her. She took them from Kevin's hand and hugged him, "Aw, Kevin! How can I stay mad at you?"

"And you two think I'm an oddball," Antonio commented from the doorway as he walked in and shook his head, "but seeing as you're the only two people here in a relationship that seems to work…"

"We're just having a little fun," Kevin said while Mia set the flowers down on the counter and seemed to look around for somewhere else to put them. Serena had rejected them and while Mia wanted to put the flowers to use, she didn't want to leave them somewhere where they would haunt Serena until they wilted away.

"Whatever keeps you two occupied," Antonio said as he took a seat at the table. "So, did you guys hear exactly what James said to Serena when he got mad?"

"Mia did," Kevin turned to his fiancée, "Serena told her everything."

"She just told me now," Antonio sighed, "It's too bad about James, though. I understand he got scared, but he had no right to say those things. We can tell him all we want, he doesn't know the full story he is in no position to judge what Serena decides to do as a Samurai."

"If he didn't like what she did, he should have just walked out," Mia nodded her head, "I agree, he didn't have to say any of those things."

"Well…" Kevin started up and the gold and pink Rangers turned to him. Kevin held up his hands defensively, "Don't get me wrong, I don't like what he said and he shouldn't have said it… but he's got a point. We do have to be careful with what we do and who we choose to associate ourselves with. Amanda got hurt before she knew we were Samurai just because she had met Emily a couple of times. Really, the reason she was taking wasn't because she knew Jayden. She stopped to say hi to Emily and was grabbed. Something that wouldn't have happened if she and Emily had never been introduced."

"But that would mean we could never go out," Antonio argued, "I mean, look at you two. You two don't have any outsides friends like Spike, Amanda, or James, and you're getting into pretend fights."

"We're playing around," Mia said.

Antonio shook his head, "Part of being a hero is staying mentally sane. We need to interact with the outside world. We need to make connections. We need to have a reason to fight outside of our duties as a Samurai. If not, we're isolated in here, forced to deal with each other day after day, and our distance from society might mean we stop caring. We don't know these people. We don't care for them. I've been in this city long enough that when I see someone in danger, I recognise them. A butcher, a cashier, a student, a CEO… It's all just labels, but these people are people. If I didn't care, I'd let the Moogers attack them while I dealt with the real threat. I'd let more and more people die, because I didn't care for them."

Kevin leaned forward against the counter, "You're right, Antonio."

"I read a lot of comic books," Antonio smirked, "I've seen all different kinds of heroes. The way I see it, sometimes we need to do things that are riskier than what we want them to be."

"It's too bad James didn't realise that," Mia said as she lightly touched the flowers.

"I think in his own way, he has," Antonio smiled. "He is trying to apologize to Serena."

Mia and Kevin nodded their head in agreement. Just then, the vase holding the flowers shattered, spilling the water everywhere and the flowers fell onto the counter. Mia, Kevin, and Antonio jumped back slightly and then looked to see what had happened. A rock laid in the middle of the mess.

Mia didn't need to look up to realise which sister had done this, "Emily…"

"He's not taking her back," Emily cast another symbol and a sandstorm whipped up around the flowers, tearing them apart and leaving the kitchen counter a muddy mess. Emily glared at the three Samurai in the room, "Do you know what he said?"

"Yeah, we do," Antonio nodded. "But ultimately it's Serena's decision. I doubt she wanted to see you getting back together with Mike."

"And he nearly killed you," Kevin added.

Emily huffed and stormed off. Everyone knew she wasn't happy with what happened between her sister and James. It had taken a lot for Emily to be able to trust that James wouldn't hurt her sister, and then, only a short time later, he did what he promised Emily he would never do. Before Antonio had left the building when he and Jayden escorted Serena to the car, he had heard Emily telling James she preferred Dekker. Antonio knew that was a big thing for Emily to say. Even at the height of her relationship with Dekker, Emily had been through an emotional hell while trying to deal with her sister's boyfriend. There was almost nothing that could be worse to Emily than Dekker.

"I'll go talk to her," Mia sighed as she followed the yellow Ranger out.

-Samurai-

Mike knocked hesitantly on Serena's bedroom door. She had agreed to give him a second chance, but things were still rocky between her and him after his incident with Emily and he didn't want to take a couple of steps backwards. She was in a vulnerable state, and Mike knew that when Serena felt vulnerable, she usually acted out by protecting Emily more than she normally did. If she chose to do that again, she could declare war on him. He didn't want that strain on his relationship with Emily.

He saw Serena was holding a fussy Terran in her arms. The smelly diaper in the waste indicated to Mike that he had recently been changed and Mike knew feeding time had just passed, so he wasn't hungry.

If anything, from the sound of the cry, Mike could assume Terran was tired. Many times the young boy had fallen asleep in his mother's arms, but this time Serena wouldn't let him settle.

"He'll fall asleep in the crib," Mike whispered, "Just put him down."

"But…"

"Serena. He's fine."

Serena sighed and got up. She set the infant in his crib and soothed him until he settled down. Then she left him to sleep on his own while she started to clean up the mess around her room.

Mike leaned against the doorframe, "Break-ups suck, huh?"

"Go away," Serena whispered. She wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand.

"We can talk, you know," Mike shrugged. "I mean, you want to kill me, but despite everything that's happened I do still care about you, and I know that what James did must have hurt."

"It's not what he did," Serena shook her head, "What he did was fine. It was a normal reaction. It's what he says. It's what he keeps saying."

"He keeps insulting you?"

"He said I put him in danger, then he wants me back. He calls me a Nighlok-fucker… then he says he loves me."

"He told you he loved you?"

Serena nodded her head, "I don't want to put him in danger. He's right, I shouldn't have…"

"Serena…"

"And the things he said about Terran…" Serena's chin started to quiver. Mike could tell she was about to burst, "I don't want to raise a monster…"

"You're not," Mike shook his head. He hesitated approaching Serena, unsure of how she would react. He did step in closer to her, though.

"He's a fucking Nighlok, Mike!" Serena shouted and pointed to the crib, "Anger makes them stronger! Fear makes them stronger!"

His mother's shouting pulled Terran from his near-sleep and he started to scream. Mike looked at the crib. Serena barely seemed to notice.

She just shook her head, "I can pretend all I want… I can try all I want… what if, one day, I have to kill him."

"Serena," Mike whispered. He walked over to the crib, "Terran's not going to be a monster. You're going to raise him right."

"He's a bastard Nighlok baby," Serena turned away, "What if I can't change that?"

Mike picked Terran up from the crib and walked over to Serena. He held the crying boy up in front of Serena, hoping she would take him.

"You already have," he said. "Anger scares him. Fear troubles him. He smiles when we do silly things. He's happiest when we're playing with him and everyone's getting along. He's part Nighlok by blood, but when the time comes, I'd trust him with a Samuraizer. He's going to be one of the best human beings there is."

Serena looked at Terran and took him in her arms. She hugged him to her chest and whispered softly to him until he calmed down.

As she did that, Mike placed his hand on her arm, "I mean, you did have a pretty big part in raising Emily, right? Look how she turned out… well, ignore the beating up Howie bit. Imagine what you'll do with this little guy."

Serena smiled, "Thanks, Mike."

"Do you want me to stay?"

Serena sighed, "Can you answer one question for me?"

"Sure."

"What about James?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders, "He said some pretty nasty things, but if I can be given a second chance, why can't James?"

"Bruises heal."

"I nearly killed your sister intentionally, and you still think James' words when he was scared and upset are worse? I mean, you should give him probation or something, but the man loves you and obviously regrets what he said."

"What he said to me I can move on from. What he said about Terran…"

"He's not dating Terran. He's not even trying to be in Terran's life. You can keep those two separate entirely."

Serena shook her head, "I don't know…"

Mike sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Well, take your time, I guess. But remember, not all men are like me. I'd wait around forever for Emily. James might not do the same for you."

"I'll think about it," Serena said, "We'll see what happens."

"Okay," Mike nodded and turned to leave the room. He bumped into Jayden on the way out, "Sorry, dude."

Jayden walked inside the room and knocked on the wall while hiding one hand behind his back, "Hey. Are you okay?"

Serena set the sleeping Terran in his crib and nodded her head, "I'm fine."

Jayden pulled his hand out from behind his back, revealing a small stuffed monkey, "This was at the door with a message for you."

Jayden pulled a note from his pocket and passed it to Serena, "For what it's worth, he's trying really hard."

Serena nodded her head. She took the note and the monkey, "I know."

"I'll just… leave you alone, I guess," Jayden said and left.

Serena sat on her bed and looked at the monkey. It was small, but it was rather cute. She didn't know if she wanted yet, but she wasn't about to throw it away.

Then she looked at the note. The paper was small. He couldn't have said a lot. She opened it up and read what was inside.

"_You're amazing, Serena._

"_Love, James."_

She smiled and set the small monkey down by her pillow.

Her door opened again as Emily and Mia walked in. Since the break-up, Emily had been sharing a room with Serena instead of Mike. She didn't want to get too close again too fast.

Without a word, Emily crawled into the bed and buried her face in her pillow. Serena looked over to Mia. The pink Ranger shrugged.

"I don't think she'll ever forget."

Serena smiled and nodded her head. She lied down beside Emily and hugged her.

"My little monster's always looking out for me."

"I hate him," Emily muffled through the pillow.

"A good guy makes mistakes."

"Bad guys fake being good."

"I won't make a decision without talking to you first, alright?"

"No."

Serena showed Emily the note while being careful to hide the second line. She didn't want to show everyone yet, "He's trying."

"He's stating the obvious again," Emily muttered. "He has to try harder. Harder than ice-cream sandwiches, even."

"If I do choose to take him back…" Serena started and Emily shot her a look that could kill, "I said if."

"No."

"I'll double date with you and Mike," Serena smiled. "You'll keep an eye on James; I'll keep my eye on Mike."

Mia raised her eyebrows, "Seriously? The one thing your relationship histories have in common is you've both dated men who… well, who've murdered."

Emily rolled over and looked at Mia, "Mike didn't murder. Dekker's still alive. I wish he had murdered."

"Triple date," Mia said. "I can't trust either of your decisions."

Serena sighed, "Then we're leaving Antonio and Jayden out."

"They don't have partners," Mia said.

"They could babysit," Emily pointed out. Then she looked at Serena, "but you're never taking James back."

"We'll see what happens, Monster," Serena ruffled Emily's hair, "And I'll be sure to keep you up to date on my decisions."

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Look out for the Next Installment of Way of the Samurai!<em>


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